Nitpicking Time
January 15th, 2015
With Marcus Mariota officially in the 2015 NFL Draft, nitpicking season ramps up.
Joe heard an NFL scout ask a sweaty offensive lineman coming off the East-West Shrine Game practice field this week to describe how he feels about his family.
Talk about nitpicking out of the blue!
But it is the season of nitpicking, and a couple of well known quarterbacks spent time nitpicking Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota on national TV.
Joe’s got the FOX video of Donovan McNabb and Joel Klatt talking all things Mariota.
Plenty of great insight here from McNabb on what scouts look for and what Mariota has and hasn’t done. Regardless, McNabb calls it “nitpicking” — and McNabb says he’ll have plenty of time to work on his perceived throwing weaknesses before throwing at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Enjoy.
January 15th, 2015 at 10:16 am
Scouts spend years watching guys because game tape matters so much more than Pro Days or Combines. Ask Teddy Bridgewater about that.
Mariota is who he is in the game tapes. Period.
January 15th, 2015 at 10:19 am
If Mariota is smart, he won’t throw at the Combine – he’ll orchestrate his own pro day with his own receivers on his home field. So will Winston for that matter. High QB throw at the Combine to their own peril. So McNabb is a little off in his comment.
January 15th, 2015 at 10:30 am
Maybe we should have nitpicked a bit more with some of our draft choices…..
NITPICK ON!!!
January 15th, 2015 at 10:32 am
I like Mariota and Winston – “I’M THANKFUL” for Tedford not coming back to help the offense and giving us this opportunity for the #1 overall pick.
January 15th, 2015 at 10:32 am
Is that a steel magnolia on McNabb’s lapel? Or is it leftover SB throw up?
January 15th, 2015 at 10:34 am
Will the Bucs make the right choice to set up the organzation for the next 10 years. ?
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?
?
/
January 15th, 2015 at 10:37 am
Scrambling to throw…That gets this guy excited!
January 15th, 2015 at 10:41 am
WOW JOE, you keep posting to your convenience of ‘quality’ people to justify the choosing of the next Florida State prisoner for Starke Shameis. Who is McNabb to give advise with a QBR of 85.6 average lifetime. Another bias opinion against Mariota. MGM
January 15th, 2015 at 10:46 am
@Buc-O’s 82
A guy’s QB rating determines his ability to critically analyze the skills of another player? Good thing Sean Peyton already has a job, his QB rating was 27.3.
Harbaugh was a 77.6, for what it’s worth.
January 15th, 2015 at 11:03 am
The Bucs won’t be nitpicking. It’s clear that Marcus is a choirboy and everything you’d want in “The Face of a Franchise” while Jameis clearly is not.
Draft Jameis and plan on providing a solid support system for him (obvious choice is Derrick Brooks) make sure Jameis has good personal advisors(keep his father as far away as possible) and plan on biting the bullet when the headlines about the lawsuit generate some bad pub…fair or not. It is what it is.
And so if Jameis is clearly THAT much better than Marcus and the Bucs decide to accept those off field challenges you can bet they will have interviewed every citizen of Tallahassee, his teachers, his high school coaches in Alabama.
They will be doing a LOT more than just nitpicking with Jameis if they decide his talent merits the risk.
I can easily envision scenarios where both of these QB’s excel in the NFL. I can just as easily see them turning out to be huge busts.
And so I turn it over the Bucs braintrust to make the right call.
I have my fingers AND toes crossed they don’t mess it up whatever their call.
January 15th, 2015 at 11:18 am
Don’t worry Dovie will screw everything up.
January 15th, 2015 at 11:26 am
I would answer every stupid question stupidly.
“How do I feel about my family? Well I don’t know… I cut them all up with an axe and dissolved their bodies with pool acid in the preserve behind my house…. why do you ask?”
January 15th, 2015 at 11:31 am
I’ve heard a lot of nitpicking going on with Winston, you’ll just never read it on this website.
January 15th, 2015 at 11:33 am
“I’ve heard a lot of nitpicking going on with Winston, you’ll just never read it on this website.”
This site needs a like button.
January 15th, 2015 at 12:09 pm
Rob Says:
January 15th, 2015 at 11:33 am
“I’ve heard a lot of nitpicking going on with Winston, you’ll just never read it on this website.”
This site needs a like button.
Great idea, YES IT DOES, but also a dislike button would be great too
January 15th, 2015 at 12:21 pm
The quiet leadership thing really is nitpicking. There are plenty of guys that leader their teams like that. Drew Brees for example.
I vote pro on the “Like” button too.
January 15th, 2015 at 12:22 pm
btw, the autoplay is frustrating. After two times listening, it gets old.
January 15th, 2015 at 12:55 pm
No need for a like button Joe.
I just fire back at them if I like their comment or not. That’s my like button.
January 15th, 2015 at 1:14 pm
When you are about to spend millions of dollars on an investment (and that’s what these players are to NFL owners and GM’s), you’d better do a little “nitpicking” to make sure you pick the right “investment”. Not only is there a lot of money involved, but a bad choice can set your program back by 3-4 years and force you to spend even more time and money to fix it!
January 15th, 2015 at 1:26 pm
We have plenty of time before the combine, but I doubt that either Qb will throw at the combine. Most do their own pro days with their own receivers. I would like to see some improvement out of Winston in the mechanics department. Mariota has a little quirk in his throw, but not like Winston. We won’t be able to see progress in the pocket presence so will have to wait and see after we draft one of them if they progress.
January 15th, 2015 at 1:39 pm
“When you are about to spend millions of dollars on an investment (and that’s what these players are to NFL owners and GM’s), you’d better do a little “nitpicking” to make sure you pick the right “investment”. Not only is there a lot of money involved, but a bad choice can set your program back by 3-4 years and force you to spend even more time and money to fix it!”
Very true. Unfortunately for Winston, his flaws are major. They don’t qualify as nitpicking. There’s the fact that he’s potentially unreliable should be reason enough to pass, but then there’s ball security. 18 INT’s in 2014 to go with 7 fumbles, 2 of which he lost.
Mariota threw fewer INT’s in 3 seasons than Winston did this year alone.
January 15th, 2015 at 1:52 pm
The choice is simple, Mariota all the way. Winston will be a bust.
January 15th, 2015 at 1:56 pm
@louis there are things a tape can’t tell you. Like can he run a pro offense, tape doesn’t answer that. Combine and pro days will. I have always been a tape first guy but Mariota is a special case where the tape doesn’t say enough. Winston on the other hand, everything you need is right in his tape. But you do have to question if his battles off the field are over. To me the post season stuff will be paramount for these two qbs
January 15th, 2015 at 2:00 pm
@rob never judge a qb coming out of college by interceptions. It’s more about why did the interception happen. Dropped ball, over throw, wrong route, and receiver not challenging the ball are all legit reaso for interceptions and some of them are not the qbs fault
January 15th, 2015 at 2:16 pm
@Gus, same thing happens in the NFL. Some percentage of INT’s are always the fault of a receiver screwing up, but you can still extrapolate and figure out good numbers from bad. If a guy throws 6 INT’s, it’s a safe bet that one or two weren’t his fault, if a guy throws 18 INT’s, it’s a safe bet that 3 or 4 weren’t his fault. The total is still higher, alarmingly so.
January 15th, 2015 at 2:37 pm
@Rob – and throwing 18 picks playing mostly unranked teams where the majority of the top players are not blue chips
January 15th, 2015 at 2:37 pm
Re: Interceptions
Dilfer set a NCAA record his senior year for consecutive throws without an interception. 6 total that season.
I think that says it all.
January 15th, 2015 at 2:50 pm
@Buc O
and throwing 18 picks playing mostly unranked teams where the majority of the top players are not blue chips
I take your point and I’m no Jameis lover but in fairness he had four of those against Florida, plenty of blue chippers..2 against VA…decent athletes and 3 against Louisville which had a good set of DB’s. and so at least half right off the top of my head did come against some good athletes. Can’t defend the other 9 but I’m sure some Jameis lover will!!! LOL
Speaking of Louisville’s DB’s. I would LOVE to pick up that safety from Louisville. That was the first game I started watching Jameis closely and the player that stood out to me was the safety from Louisville. Love to have him but I doubt he’ll be around when we could afford to spend a pick on a safety.
January 15th, 2015 at 2:53 pm
I’m not dead set against drafting Jameis. But he clearly had a sophomore slump. A great Freshman year and a good sophomore year. Which Jameis is the real deal? Freshman Jameis or Sophomore Jameis. Drafting underclassmen increase the gamble but whadda ya gonna do in today’s environment?
January 15th, 2015 at 3:20 pm
@LoveandWarrick
I’m not following you on your post. Are you saying Dilfer throwing 271 passes without an interception in his junior year is A good thing? He threw for 30 TDs and 5 interceptions that year. Also, his record stood until 2007 when Andre Woodson broke it.
January 15th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
@StPete,
Agreed, I don’t think anyone should be deadset against a QB. We know we need one. However, I think you can say you want one over the other, but be ok if they went with the other.
January 15th, 2015 at 3:47 pm
@Skyline
I was replying to Rob. My point being, just because one guy has less picks than another doesn’t automatically make them the better pro prospect as alluded, using Dilfer as such an example. When he became the starter in 95 in TB, he threw 4 td’s and 18 ints.
January 15th, 2015 at 4:06 pm
@Love and Warrick
Dilfer wasn’t that great in the NFL. He only had 6 seasons where he didn’t have more ints than tds.
January 15th, 2015 at 4:15 pm
@Skyline
That’s my point….Low interceptions in college doesn’t necessarily mean low interceptions in the NFL.
January 15th, 2015 at 4:16 pm
@LWD
I hear what you are saying.
January 15th, 2015 at 4:23 pm
“@Rob – and throwing 18 picks playing mostly unranked teams where the majority of the top players are not blue chips”
Yep, this is my other major problem with Winston. He won his games, but he routinely skated by unranked teams, at home. Beating Boston College, Miami, and Florida by 3, 4, and 5 points respectively. Those were the only top-20 college defenses he faced this year other than Louisville (which he was awful in the first half, but good enough in the second half to win) – and he didn’t perform terribly well against any of them.
January 15th, 2015 at 4:39 pm
I think if Winston fixes some of his mechanics he can be a truly exceptional QB. However, right now, I think the DBs of the NFL will eat him up.
January 15th, 2015 at 9:31 pm
I welcome the nitpicking. Lets just make sure that we nitpick each QB, unlike our presidential selection process where we hide the weaknesses of one ‘candidate’, while exposing them for the other – I’d find it refreshing to see BOTH sides.
I mean, it’s not like I can’t find that information, I just don’t always find it when certain @joe’s review both QB’s (not all @joe’s are created equal).
I’m not as anti-Jameis as it appears, I just don’t want anyone deliberately spilling ‘beer’ down my back and calling it ‘rain’ regarding how much MORE ‘NFL ready’ Jameis Winston is than Marcus Mariota.
Be honest; both of these guys have major issues to overcome before they can ever be considered ‘NFL ready’…and while one or two of the @joe’s may truly have fallen in ‘Lovie’ with Jameis – the reality is, they’re just using it to generate traffic. The downside to this is: we allow this to deliberately divide the fan base in order to sell more advertising…and bidness is definitely good.
Because once the conversation starts drying up on the ‘Winston is god’ posts, we should start getting some balance from the ‘No, wait…Marcus is god’ reports…
Because nobody who writes for a living about QB’s and the NFL is really so dumb they think Jameis Winston is ‘NFL ready’…